After the Biden administration recently issued a final rule that would require airlines to automatically issue refunds to passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled, Ted Cruz and 3 other lawmakers introduced a bill that could undermine the entire effort.
The Biden administration recently announced their final rule requiring automatic refunds of airline tickets and ancillary service fees. There’s still some planning to get through before it would all go into effect, but eventually the rule would, “make it easy to get money back for cancelled or significantly changed flight, significantly delayed checked bags, and additional services not provided.” It would be easy because you wouldn’t have to ask for the money, or be pressured into getting a flight voucher instead of your money back. It would just happen automatically.
Unfortunately, sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) introduced new Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation that would require passengers to send a “written or electronic request” in order to receive a full refund for a canceled or very delayed flight
The latest deal in Congress could mean that travelers are still bearing the burden of airlines’ mishaps.
Instead of automatically getting their money back, they would be forced to manually request refunds, wasting time and energy.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 29, 2024
In other words, instead of making it easy for you, Cruz & Co. want you to have to still jump through hoops to get your money back. Because you know how easy airlines would make it for you to (A) find the right form and (B) get an airline to respond.
“I know there are concerns that some of the consumer-focused provisions, while well-intentioned, may have the opposite effect if not implemented carefully and considerately. We should give these provisions due consideration,” Cruz said, when consumer advocacy groups’ voiced concerns that his efforts could completely undermine the efforts to give passengers easy refunds.
Well, yeah – that’s why they’re still going to iron it all out before it would all go into effect.
Follow the money
It probably shouldn’t be surprising that all four Congresspeople have accepted substantial donations from the airline industry over the years (Cruz alone has reportedly received over $250k from the industry, over 10% of which came from Delta Air Lines alone, over the past 5 years). But since Cruz has shown the particular ability to make not only the American people (remember when Texas lost electricity and his response was to go to Cancun?) but his own peers intensely dislike him, it probably should be considered par for the course.
And since airlines spent a record $33 million on lobbying last year, mainly to fight these new refund rules, of course they’re going to ask their friends Cruz, Cantwell, Graves and Larsen to help their cause.
There’s still time to fix it
Hopefully, the bill will be amended, with adequate language reinforcing the need for automatic refunds, before the reauthorization act is finally passed. But if the proposed legislation remains as it is right now and somehow passes both the House and the Senate (not likely), President Biden would still have to sign it to become a law.
And that’s also highly unlikely.
Feature Image: Gage Skidmore // flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0
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